Peng Yao, Ph.D.

Principle Investigator, Associate Professor (tenured)

Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI), Department of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Rochester
 School of Medicine and Dentistry

CVRI Imaging Core Director; CVS401 Course Co-Director; CVRI Seminar Series Co-Director; UR Translation Club Co-Director

Member of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology PhD Program, Cell Biology of Disease PhD Program, Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology PhD Program, and T32 NIH Training Grant in Cellular, Biochemical & Molecular Sciences, URMC

Member of Center for RNA Biology, URMC

Member of Center for Biomedical Informatics, URMC

Debojyoti Das, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate (8/2023-present; Ph.D. from Institute of Life Sciences in India and BS & MS from the University of Calcutta in  Kolkata, India)

Research Interest: Investigate the interplay of translational control and RNA metabolism in cardiovascular disease and explore the mechanism of translational regulation in ECM remodeling; tRNA modification in heart health and disease

Uday Baliga, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate (4/2024-present; Ph.D. from University of Rochester Medical Center [Pathology Program])

Research Interest: Investigate translational control and mitochondrial metabolism in cardiovascular disease and explore RNA metabolism on the surface of cardiac cells

Liuqing Yang, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate (1/2025-present; Ph.D. from the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine)

Research Interest: Study RNA biology and translational regulation in CM proliferation and heart regeneration; proteosomal degradation pathways in heart diseases

Aleksandr Ivanov, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate (2/2025-present; Ph.D. from Lomonosov Moscow State University)

Research Interest: Study translational control in cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts; translational regulation of cardiac aging process; protein science, biochemistry, and biophysics

Lindsey Wainwright, Ph.D. candidate (3rd year)

Graduate Student (URMC BMB Program, 3/2023-present; BS from Central Connecticut State University )

Research Interest: Development of novel RNA drug delivery methods and tRNA modifications in heart disease

Jack Lawrence Schwarts, Ph.D. candidate (2nd year)

Graduate Student (URMC BMB Program, 5/2024-present; lab rotation during 1/2024-3/2024; BS from Purdue University)

Research Interest: RNA secondary structure, RNA helicases, and uORF-mediated translational control

Belal Chowdhury, Ph.D. candidate (2nd year)

Graduate Student (URMC BMB Program, 4/2025-present; lab rotation during 1/2024-3/2024)

Research Interest: Function and mechanism of RNA-binding protein in heart disease; EJC complex and spliceosome regulation and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in human cells (research work in Dr. Lynne Maquat's lab during 6/1/2024-3/31/2025)

Kevin Lei Pan, Ph.D. candidate (rotation student; 1st year)

Graduate Student (UR Biology Program, 12/2024-present; lab rotation during 12/2024-5/2025; BS-MD from Tsinghua University)

Research Interest: Diabetes and HFpEF; Human disease treatment; Biomedical research of disease etiology and development of therapeutics; Posttranslational modification of RBPs and signal transduction in cardiac fibrosis

Yui Kawakami (B.S.): Lab Technician (4/2024-present)

Undergraduate Student (University of Rochester, Biochemistry, 9/2020-5/2024)

Research Interest: Animal genetics, cardiovascular disease, and skeletal muscle disorder; mitochondrial transmembrane protein function and mechanism; Neuron biology and brain diseases

Jiali He (M.S.): Research Specialist (6/2024-present)

MS Student (University of Syracuse, Neuron Science, 10/2020-5/2024; BS from Wuhan University in China)

Research Interest: Animal genetics and cardiovascular disease; Organ fibrosis; human mutations of RNA-binding protein in heart and brain diseases; Neurobiology and brain diseases

Alexander Chen (B.S. candidate of Biological Sciences in UR): 

Research Assistant (11/2024-present)

Research Interest: Human heart surgery; Animal genetics and surgery; Translation factor in cardiomyocyte biology; Aim to become a cardiac surgeon

Joseph DeTraglia (B.S. candidate of Molecular Genetics in UR): 

Research Intern (1/2025-present)

Research Interest: Human cardiology and clinical research; Animal genetics and heart disease; Translation factor in cardiac fibroblast biology; Aim to become a cardiologist

Isha Korgaonkar  (4+4 B.S./M.D. candidate in UR;  Rochester Early Medical Scholar): 

Research Intern (2/2025-present)

Research Interest: Human disease, clinical and translational research, and patient care; Animal genetics and heart disease; RNA therapeutics; Aims to become a physician doctor

Jaimie Lim (B.S. candidate in UR): 

Research Intern (3/2025-present)

Research Interest: Human disease, clinical and translational research, and patient care; Animal genetics; Aims to become a physician doctor

Bob (Bohan) Zhang (B.S. candidate in UR):

Research Intern (9/2025-present)

Research Interest: Animal genetics; Molecular biology; Marketing and consulting

Richard Xu (B.S. candidate in UR):

Research Intern (9/2025-present)

Research Interest: Artificial intelligence; Animal genetics; Cardiac biology and heart disease; Cardiology; Molecular biology; Protein structure and function

Shen Zhou (Ph.D. of Genomics & Genetics Program and MS of Data Science in UR; currently working in Sanofi in the Boston area): 

Bioinformatician collaborator (5/2025-present)

Research Interest: Machine learning & Deep learning; computational biology; process analytical technology and Convolution Neural Networks (Internship for Biogen)

Kadiam Venkata Chinna (Ph.D.): Postdoctoral Associate (11/2016-11/2020); Staff Scientist (11/2020-6/2022)

Research Interest: Understand the Function of  MicroRNA and Translation Elongation Factor in Cardiac Fibrosis

Venkata Chinna is currently working at the Scriptr Global start-up company as a research scientist on the development of novel RNA Stitchr technology, circRNA therapeutics, and bat-derived novel GLP1 peptide.

EngSoon (Darren) Khor, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate (12/2019-9/2023)

Research Interest: Study the Function of  Translation Initiation Factor in Cardiac Myocyte and Fibroblast in Heart Disease

EngSoon (Darren) is working in a biotechnology company on hiPSC-CM drug screening. 

Madhuparna Pandit, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate (7/2023-12/2023)

Research Interest: Understand the Function of  mRNA processing during translational control of cardiac physiopathology

Pandit moved on to a cancer biology lab to pursue her goal of joining the industry in the near future.

Feng Jiang, Ph.D. 

Graduate Student (BMB Program, 4/2018-1/2024)

Research Interest: Cracking the Function of Translation Regulatory Factors at Initiation Step during Cell Cycle Progression and Heart Development

Feng is working as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Billy Jin Li's lab at Stanford University, studying ADAR-mediated RNA editing in auto-immune diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders. Feng got his BS from Wuhan University.

Omar Hedaya, Ph.D.

Graduate Student (BMB Program, 6/2018-11/2023)

Research Interest: The Role of RNA Helicase and 5'uORF in the Translation of Cardiomyocyte Transcription Factors

Omar is working as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Kevin Weeks's lab at University of North Carolina, developing novel chemical compound for labeling RNA structural elements for establishing new RNA-probing biotechnology and RNA therapeutics. Omar got his BS from Kuwait University.

Jared Hollinger: B.S. 

Lab Manager/Technician III (5/2021-4/2024) 

Research Interest: Protein expression, purification, biochemical characterization, and translational regulation of gene expression in cancer biology. 

Jared received offers from OSU and SUNY Upstate graduate school Ph.D. programs and will start his Ph.D. thesis research at OSU after the summer of 2024.

Matthew Auguste, B.S.

Undergraduate Student (University of Rochester), Intern Student (9/2020-4/2023) 

Research Assistant/Lab technician (7/2023-4/2024)

Research Interest: Molecular cloning for RNA-binding protein domain mapping; Animal genetics for the cardiovascular system

Matt moved to the clinical department, working with pediatrics cardiologists for patient care for kids with congenital heart disease.

Virginia Aswad, B.S.

Undergraduate Student (Rochester Institute of Technology, 9/2020-5/2021), Lab Technician

Research Interest: RNA synthesis and manufacturing for agriculture and human patient care. She is currently working as a research technologist at GreenLight Biosciences company.

Jordan Rhen: Joint Lab Technician with Dr. Jinjiang Pang's lab

Jordan Rhen is currently working as lab manager in Cornell University.

Emily Bonanno, B.S. candidate

Undergraduate Student (University of Rochester), Intern Student (9/2022-11/2023)

Research Interest: Biochemical characterizations of RNA and RNA-binding properties of translation factors

Emily has entered a PhD graduate program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and aims to become a research scientist.

Jordan Pappas: Undergraduate Student for Summer Internship (University of Rochester, 7/2018-9/2018) 

Current: M.S., Graduate Student (Data Science, Business and Social Sciences, 08/2020-present)

Research Interest: Application of machine learning and deep learning models to U.S. hydraulic fracking industry trends and opioid involvement in unclassified drug overdoses.